{"product_id":"unbecoming-women-british-women-writers-and-the-novel-of-development-9780231080019","title":"Unbecoming Women: British Women Writers and the Novel of Development","description":"\u003cp\u003eIs there a \"female \u003ci\u003eBildungsroman\u003c\/i\u003e\"? Can the story of Elizabeth Bennet's development be yoked to a genre conceived in terms of Wilhelm Meister and David Copperfield? \u003ci\u003eUnbecoming Women\u003c\/i\u003e unpacks the ideological baggage of the \u003ci\u003eBildungsroman\u003c\/i\u003e, and turns to novels of development and conduct books by women for a new poetics of growing up.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a subtle reading of works by Frances Burney, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, and George Eliot, Susan Fraiman argues that a heroine's progress toward masterful selfhood is by no means assured. Focusing on \"counternarratives\" in which girls do not enter the world so much as flounder on its doorstep, Fraiman suggests that becoming a woman involves de-formation, disorientation, and the loss of authority.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy stressing the rival stories in a single text, \u003ci\u003eUnbecoming Women\u003c\/i\u003e provides a fresh assessment of the \u003ci\u003eBildungsroman\u003c\/i\u003e. Instead of the usual question--\"How does the hero of this novel come of age?\"--Fraiman asks, \"What are the divergent developmental narratives at work, and what can they tell us about competing ideologies concerning the feminine?\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWritten with grace and theoretical mastery, \u003ci\u003eUnbecoming Women\u003c\/i\u003e emphasizes the subversive as well as dialectical aspects of a genre long considered homogeneous. The result is a compelling work of literary criticism that, charting female destiny in Georgian and Victorian texts, also postmodernizes the novel of development.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Susan Fraiman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Columbia University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/05\/1994\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Gender and Culture (Paperback)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 208\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.59lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.95h x 5.98w x 0.46d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780231080019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRevised Edition\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42710652125321,"sku":"9780231080019","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_7c86b003-b8cd-47b3-8786-4719f26c3b67.jpg?v=1719540785","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/unbecoming-women-british-women-writers-and-the-novel-of-development-9780231080019","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}